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Wes Anderson: 5 things to know about the master of fantasy
An exhibition at the Cinémathèque française, his first Oscar win, and a film, The Phoenician Scheme, presented at the Cannes Film Festival… Wes Anderson’s name is one every lip. As Arte airs one of his finest films, The Grand Budapest Hotel, on August 3rd, 2025, Numéro takes a closer look at the whimsical Texan filmmaker’s career through five anecdotes, from his tumultuous debuts in the industry to his critically acclaimed animated features.
Until July 27th, American director Wes Anderson was the center of a major exhibition at the Cinémathèque française in Paris. In a press release, the institution encouraged visitors to “discover how Anderson’s iconoclastic vision and attention to detail have resulted in some of the most visually and emotionally captivating films of the past few decades.”
Awarded the first Oscar of his career in 2024 for the short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, the filmmaker has always brought unusual worlds to life. His quirky characters have been portrayed by Hollywood stars who remain ever loyal to him… Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton, and Adrien Brody, to name a few.
This year, the director unveiled a new feature film titled The Phoenician Scheme. Centered on the inner workings of a family business, the film premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. This twelfth addition to the prolific director’s filmography once again demonstrates his mastery of the unexpected. The TV channel Arte will be broadcasting one of the most iconic films of his career, The Grand Budapest Hotel, on August 3rd, 2025. Numéro takes a look back at some lesser-known facts about Wes Anderson’s career.
He used to put on puppet shows as a teenager
Foreshadowing his future animated films Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and Isle of Dogs (2018), tWes Anderson loved to stage puppet shows as a teenager. He would create costumes, props, and sets with patience and meticulous care. A hobby that nourished the imagination of this autodidact, who taught himself the art of filmmaking.
He met actor Owen Wilson at the University of Texas
It was the University of Austin, Texas, that Wes Anderson met Owen Wilson, who would go on to become one of Hollywood’s most beloved actors. At the time, the future filmmaker was a philosophy student and shared a dorm room with Wilson. Along with Owen’s older brother Andrew, the three formed an inseparable trio both on and off camera. Wes Anderson would go on to cast Owen Wilson in many of his films, including Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).
His first film was a total flop
Wes Anderson’s debut film, Bottle Rocket (1996), a story about a naive, clumsy trio planning a heist, was a total flop at the U.S. box office. A failure that hit co-writer Owen Wilson hard, so much so that he nearly abandoned his acting career to join the army.
He works remotely with his teams, using his mobile phone
Wes Anderson directed a second animated film, Isle of Dogs (2018), a tribute to Japan. Nine years after Fantastic Mr. Fox, his first animated feature adapted from Roald Dahl’s short story Fantastic Mr. Fox. For both of those films, the director would send daily videos of himself, shot on his mobile phone, acting out each character’s movements. While some describe this method as “remote directing” and have criticized his repeated absences from the studio, Wes Anderson sees it as “the best way not to get overwhelmed by the technical aspects.”
He curated an exhibition with his wife, the costume designer Juman Malouf
For two years, the filmmaker and his wife, costume designer Juman Malouf, embarked on what they called a giant treasure hunt. Together, they assembled over 400 eclectic and whimsical items, including costumes, paintings, musical instruments, they uncovered from the storage rooms of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. As a result, they curated an exhibition Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasures, a direct reference to the tiny Egyptian shrew sarcophagus featured on the exhibition’s poster. First presented in Vienna in November 2018, the exhibition will remain open until next April.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) by Wes Anderson will air on Arte on August 3rd, 2025.
